Health Warning: you never know what's round the corner.....
Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 8:55 am
Sadly, since returning from a 3-week/3,000 mile Euro driving holiday in my 1972 Triumph TR6 (car) on the 26 June I had a stroke a few days later and spent 7 days in the Acute Stroke Unit at Frimley Park Hospital, Camberley where I remained under the excellent care of the NHS nursing staff. I'm now recovering at home with the excellent help of the hospital Stroke Rehab Team - thank god for the NHS who were and are being absolutely fantastic! However, whilst I'm making a steady recovery, I'll be surrendering my driving licence to the DVLA for at least a year due to a number of post-stroke Absence Seizures whilst in hospital. Luckily, my good mate 'Dangerous Dave' will ride my 76 A4 and 70 CB750 K1 (when it's back together) and my two sons will drive my TRs to keep their wheels turning until I eventually get my licence back.
It’s never lucky to have a stroke, but if there is any luck to this then it’s the stroke (caused by a blood clot) was to the right side of my brain which affected my left peripheral vision, balance, cognitive processing of which the doctors and nursing staff say will heal over time with rest, rehabilitation and ongoing medication. The outcome may have been very different if the stroke had been to the left side............
My full recovery is likely take up to 6 months and I will need to remain on some form of medication for the rest of my life, but rather that than have another even worse stroke and end up 6 feet under!
Having always been fit for sport and work, this has come as a complete shock - none of my friends and family thought that I would ever have been a candidate for a stroke! But who is? Although my stroke wasn’t the classic ‘head on fire’ shown in the TV ads, it was a slow burn which saw me lose balance and become increasingly vacant and unable to take onboard what was happening around me, but my mistake was to ignore the feeling that something wasn’t right and continue to think it would pass and to be dismissive of my wife’s insistence to go to hospital. So a lesson learned the hard way!
Cheers,
Andrew
It’s never lucky to have a stroke, but if there is any luck to this then it’s the stroke (caused by a blood clot) was to the right side of my brain which affected my left peripheral vision, balance, cognitive processing of which the doctors and nursing staff say will heal over time with rest, rehabilitation and ongoing medication. The outcome may have been very different if the stroke had been to the left side............
My full recovery is likely take up to 6 months and I will need to remain on some form of medication for the rest of my life, but rather that than have another even worse stroke and end up 6 feet under!
Having always been fit for sport and work, this has come as a complete shock - none of my friends and family thought that I would ever have been a candidate for a stroke! But who is? Although my stroke wasn’t the classic ‘head on fire’ shown in the TV ads, it was a slow burn which saw me lose balance and become increasingly vacant and unable to take onboard what was happening around me, but my mistake was to ignore the feeling that something wasn’t right and continue to think it would pass and to be dismissive of my wife’s insistence to go to hospital. So a lesson learned the hard way!
Cheers,
Andrew
